Small Group: Becoming Human
Session 1: Introduction & Welcome.
The Books we will be using are:
Becoming Human by Jean Vanier & Kingdom Culture: The Sermon on the Mount by Tara Beth Leach.
First, we welcome to this group which will be learning how to fully include people with impairments full and actively as participants in the local church. Today we be exploring Leviticus 21 and Matthew 4 with question: How is God calling His people today to embrace people with impairments as active participants of His church using their God given gifts and graces to build up His local church with healing for all people concerned. Leviticus 21:(ii) 16 Adonai said to Moshe, 17 “Tell Aharon, ‘None of your descendants who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 No one with a defect may approach — no one blind, lame, with a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 a broken foot or a broken arm, 20 a hunched back, stunted growth, a cataract in his eye, festering or running sores, or damaged testicles — 21 no one descended from Aharon the cohen who has such a defect may approach to present the offerings for Adonai made by fire; he has a defect and is not to approach to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both the especially holy and the holy; 23 only he is not to go in to the curtain or approach the altar, because he has a defect — so that he will not profane my holy places, because I am Adonai, who makes them holy.’”
24 Moshe said these things to Aharon, his sons and all the people of Isra’el. & Matthew 4:23 Yeshua went all over the Galil teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing people from every kind of disease and sickness. 24 Word of him spread throughout all Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill, suffering from various diseases and pains, and those held in the power of demons, and epileptics and paralytics; and he healed them. 25 Huge crowds followed him from the Galil, the Ten Towns, Yerushalayim, Y’hudah, and ‘Ever-HaYarden.
Second, My thinking towards people with impairments as whole people began at an early because my Mom took an active stance to talk with, listen to, and sit with people who have impairments as well as the fact that I was born with speech impediment. Then marriage came with a son being born after three years of marriage. As my son was growing, my wife decided she did not want to be married to me which came divorce and miraculously or fully God's Grace, I was awarded full physical and legal custody of my son, James. During this time of separation, divorce, and custody awarded, James was diagnosed with multiple impairments such as developmental delays. As I was raising him, I discovered that the church was either not equipped or did not desire to include people with impairments as well as working with Single Fathers over Single Mothers. During this time, I finally said yes to Seminary after 15 years of fighting with God. While at Seminary God was giving me a vision for the Global Methodist Nazarene Lamb’s Hope similar to L'Arche International along with their Faith & Light where the employees lived with people with impairments to build community in and out of the church. When God gave me this vision, I knew it would take the whole church to bring it into operation. Which is where I am now.
Third, with the mention of L'Arche, the men who began this were Jean Vanier, Philippe Seux, and Raphael Simi. Jean Vanier was the son of Canada governor general, George Vanier. At 13 years of age in 1942, Jean Vanier went to England to join the Royal Naval College during World War II staying in the navy for 8 years. In 1950, while searching for another road to peace, he lived in a small Christian community working manually while pursuing studies in theology and philosophy. In April 1964 while teaching philosophy in a Toronto university a holy priest-a man of God came to him asked him if he would live with two intellectually impaired men, Philippe & Raphael. He did which began what we know as L'Arche International. A year or so later, a couple with an intellectually impaired child if they could have community with L'Arche while their child livec at home which was the beginning of Faith & Light as we know it.
Lesson 1: Inclusive God - His Church to be Inclusive
Leviticus 21:(ii) 16 Adonai said to Moshe, 17 “Tell Aharon, ‘None of your descendants who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.
18 No one with a defect may approach — no one blind, lame, with a mutilated face or a limb too long, 19 a broken foot or a broken arm, 20 a
hunched back, stunted growth, a cataract in his eye, festering or running sores, or damaged testicles — 21 no one descended from Aharon the
cohen who has such a defect may approach to present the offerings for Adonai made by fire; he has a defect and is not to approach to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both the especially
holy and the holy; 23 only he is not to go in to the curtain or approach the altar, because he has a defect — so that he will not profane my holy places, because I am Adonai, who makes them holy.’”
2 Corinthians 12:7 Therefore, to keep me from becoming overly proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from the Adversary to pound away at me, so that I wouldn’t grow conceited. 8 Three times I begged the Lord to take this thing away from me; 9 but he told me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is brought to perfection in weakness.”
Therefore, I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses, in order that the Messiah’s power will rest upon me. 10 Yes, I am well pleased with
weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.
There are three reasons God called me to seek ways for the church to be more inclusive of people who have disabilities, which are:
1. My Mom’s passion to be around and talk with people with disabilities.
2. My own experience with my speech impediment.
3. My experience with my own son and manner manner pastors, lay leaders, and churches have reacted to us and other families similar to us.
1. My mother was an exceptional woman. She graduated from high school even after her father died when she was 16 years old. She, then, attended and graduated from Elmira Business Institute with Secretarial Training.
Then, during World War 2 she enlisted into U.S. Navy as Wave being trained as Baker. From here my older brother was born then she married my father with my older sister being born on a Christmas Day. They worked
as migrant farmers in the Southwest in mostly Arizona and California. My father still had issues with alcohol, in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, and his
first wife divorcing while he was aboard ship. When my mother discovered she was three months pregnant my father went on one his binges allowing my Mom left alone with no visible support. Her Mom sent airfare for her and my two siblings from Los Angeles, California to Elmira, New York. Before I was born, she took care of a woman with some kind of disability then after I
was born we lived with my Grama and Grandma in South Waverly, Pennsylvania moving across the border to Waverly, New York. When I was
about one years old, my older brother was invited to VBS at the Church of the Nazarene where at the VBS program my Mom returned to her relationship with Jesus and became an active part of the Church of the Nazarene the rest of her life. She always kept a soft spot in her heart and mind for people with disabilities treating each of the people as whole people as any other person. She did this more in actions rather words. She wanted me to receive speech therapy in school, but because I was not Special Education Student I was unable to until was in high school. This passion for people with disabilities drifted into my heart and mind.
2. This passion drifted into me, but not when I first heard God’s call to prepare for pastoral ministry in 1974 because what I heard from God was the countercultural people. Even though I sensed that I did not have the Grace to being this kind of Pastor as saw other pastors fulfilling this ministry, but being rejected by other pastors I did not want to receive this kind of rejection so I enlisted unto the U.S. Air Force.
Now, we will hear from Josh Elliott and each one of you are you learned and thought about people with impairments. After this, we will go over the proposed 7 weeks of tis class, which will be:
Session 2: Loneliness & The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1 Seeing the crowds, Yeshua walked up the hill. After he sat down, his talmidim came to him, 2 and he began to speak. This is what he taught them:,7:24 “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed — and its collapse was horrendous!”
28 When Yeshua had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at the way he taught, 29 for he was not instructing them like their Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.8:1 After Yeshua had come down from the hill, large crowds followed him.) & The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3 “How blessed are the poor in spirit!
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 “How blessed are those who mourn!
for they will be comforted.
5 “How blessed are the meek!
for they will inherit the Land![Matthew 5:5 Psalm 37:11]6 “How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness!
for they will be filled.
7 “How blessed are those who show mercy!
for they will be shown mercy.
8 “How blessed are the pure in heart!
for they will see God.
9 “How blessed are those who make peace!
for they will be called sons of God.
10 “How blessed are those who are persecuted
because they pursue righteousness!
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 “How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me! 12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great — they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.).
Jesus goes: Matthew 5:1 Seeing the crowds, Yeshua walked up the hill. After he sat down, his talmidim came to him,
Exodus 24:12 Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.” 13 Moshe got up, also Y’hoshua his assistant; and Moshe went up onto the mountain of God.
Exodus 34:1 (v) Adonai said to Moshe, “Cut yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones; and I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by morning; in the morning you are to ascend Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come up with you, and no one is to be seen anywhere on the mountain; don’t even let the flocks or herds feed in front of this mountain.” 4 Moshe cut two stone tablets like the first. Then he got up early in the morning and, with the two stone tablets in his hands, ascended Mount Sinai, as Adonai had ordered him to do.
Deuteronomy 9:9 I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets on which was written the covenant Adonai had made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights without eating food or drinking water.
Deuteronomy 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia-wood and cut two stone tablets like the first, then climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.
Common Thread about Jesus:
Matthew 7:28 When Yeshua had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at the way he taught, 29 for he was not instructing them like their Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.
Matthew 8:19 A Torah-teacher approached and said to him, “Rabbi, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Matthew 9:11 When the P’rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?”
Matthew 12:38 At this some of the Torah-teachers said, “Rabbi, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”
Matthew 17:24 When they came to K’far-Nachum, the collectors of the half-shekel came to Kefa and said, “Doesn’t your rabbi pay the Temple tax?”
Matthew 19:16 A man approached Yeshua and said, “Rabbi, what good thing should I do in order to have eternal life?” He said to him,
Matthew 22:16 They sent him some of their talmidim and some members of Herod’s party. They said, “Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and really teach what God’s way is. You aren’t concerned with what other people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person’s status.
Matthew 22:24 “Rabbi, Moshe said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother must marry his widow and have children to preserve the man’s family line.’[Matthew 22:24 Deuteronomy 25:5–6]
Matthew 22:36 “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?”
Matthew 26:18 “Go into the city, to so-and-so,” he replied, “and tell him that the Rabbi says, ‘My time is near, my talmidim and I are celebrating Pesach at your house.’”
Who do you believe are people to be included in the church? Be honest in your thinking.
If Jesus included the marginalized including people with impairments, how are we to fully include all the marginalized in our church especially the people with impairments?
What are the difference here in the groups? Luke 6:20 He looked at his talmidim and said:
“How blessed are you poor!
for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 “How blessed are you who are hungry!
for you will be filled.
“How blessed are you who are crying now!
for you will laugh.
22 “How blessed you are whenever people hate you and ostracize you and insult you and denounce you as a criminal on account of the Son of Man. 23 Be glad when that happens; yes, dance for joy! because in heaven your reward is great. For that is just how their fathers treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already had all the comfort you will get!
25 “Woe to you who are full now,
for you will go hungry!
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and cry!
26 “Woe to you when people speak well of you, for that is just how their fathers treated the false prophets!
What Picture begins to form in your mind where the people with impairments and their families are fully included in the local church?
Who do you see are people Jesus included that your church in some way(s) do not include in your church as lay people or clergy?
hat would happen if you changed the way you pray for people and began to pray for families with family members with impairments asking God to show you ways they may become part of your local church?
After all, one of the areas that people with impairments as well as their family members is loneliness?
How do we fully include people in our church family beyond Sundays and Wednesday Nights?
Five principles to live with for full inclusion are:
1. All humans are sacred, whatever their culture, race, or religion, whatever their capacities or incapacities, and whatever their weaknesses or strengths will be.
2. Our world and individual lives are in the process of evolving.
3. Maturity comes through working with others, through dialogue, and through a sense of belonging and a searching together.
4. Human beings need to be encouraged to make choices, and to become responsible for their own lives and for the lives of others.
5. In order to make such choices, we need to reflect and to seek truth and meaning. Reality is the first principle of truth.
The truth will set us free only if we let it penetrate our hearts and rend the veil that separates head from heart.
There are seven aspects of love that seem necessary for the transformation of the heart in those who are profoundly lonely are:
The first aspect of love, the key aspect, is revelation.
To love also means to understand and this is the second aspect of love.
The third aspect of love is then communication. Communication is at the heart of love.
The fourth aspect of love is celebration. It is not enough to reveal to people their value, to understand and care for them. To love people is also to celebrate them.
The fifth aspect of love is empowerment. It is not just a question of doing things for others but of helping them to do things for themselves, helping them to discover the meaning of their lives. To love means to empower.
We have discovered how love flows into communion, the sixth aspect of love. Communion is mutual trust, mutual belonging; it is the to-and-fro movement of love between two people where each one gives and each one receives.
There is a seventh and final aspect of love, the most crucial of all in our equation, and that is forgiveness.
Session 3: Belonging & Salt & Light (Matthew 5:13-16) & Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Law (Matthew 5:17-32).
Session 4: From Exclusion to Inclusion: A Path of Healing & Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:33-48) & Prayer & Fasting (Matthew 6:1-18).
Session 5: The Path to Freedom & Judgment & Discernment (Matthew 6:19-7:12).
Session 6: Forgiveness & Discipleship & the Wise & Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:13-27).
Session 7: Conclusion and Closing Thoughts and Questions.
GLOBAL METHODIST-NAZARENE LAMB'S HOPE MINISTRY CONSTITUTION
Article I. Name
The name of this organization shall be Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministry (GMNLHM) of the United Methodist Church of the Nazarene.
Article II. Purpose
The purpose of this organization shall be to mobilize the entire church in active mission involvement, in united prayer, and in the study of the salvation needs of the world's population with disabilities; promote a wider knowledge of the mission fields of the Church of the Nazarene for the full and active inclusion of all people with a disability and their families whether they are deaf, blind, paraplegic, quadriplegic, cognitive, physical, and emotional or mental illness; inspire and challenge youth, children, and adults to be open to God’s call for missionary service, and to facilitate the mentoring of children, youth, and adults in their calls to lay or clergy ministry; raise funds, as elsewhere provided for in this Constitution, for extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ around the world.
Article III. Structure
Section 1. Local
The local Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministry (GMNLHM) shall be an organization of the local church and shall work cooperatively with the pastor and church board through the local GMNLHM council.
A local GMNLHM may choose to have one or more groups to further the purpose of GMNLHM (e.g., Sunday School classes, children’s church, youth groups, chapters, special missions emphasis focus, etc.). Such groups and the appointment/election of officers shall be authorized by the local GMNLHM council with approval by the pastor and the respective related leaders. Each local church will have at least one community living home where the people with impairments live with paid staff or resident assistants to build community with church and larger community.
Section 2. District
The district Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministry (GMNLHM) shall be an organization of the _______________ District and work cooperatively with the district superintendent, district advisory board, and other district related leaders through the district GMNLHM council.
All local GMNLHM organizations within the boundaries of ______________ District shall constitute the district GMNLHM.
Section 3. General
The general Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries (GMNLHM) shall be an organization of Church of the Nazarene and work cooperatively with the General GMNLHM Council, the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Department, and the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Committee of the Board of General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene.
All district and local GMNLHM organizations shall constitute the general GMNLHM. It shall be auxiliary to the Church of the Nazarene.
Article IV. Membership
A. Members: Any person who is a member of the Church of the Nazarene and supports the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries (GMNLHM) purpose may be a member of GMNLHM in that local church.
1. Voting and holding office shall be limited to members who are 15 years of age or older, except in children’s, youth, and adult groups.
2. Unless otherwise stated in this constitution, reference to “members” means GMNLHM members who are members of the church.
B. Associate Members: Any person who is not a member of the Church of the Nazarene and supports the GMNLHM purpose may be an associate member of GMNLHM.
Article V. Councils and Officers Section 1. Local Council
A. Purpose: The local council shall promote the purpose of Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries (GMNLHM) in the local church.
B. Composition
1. The council shall have four officers: a president, a vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer.
2. Council members shall be responsible for ministries education, prayer and fasting, ministries call, Ministries Health Care, Work & Witness, publicity, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, children’s ministries, youth ministries, adult ministries, and/or any other emphasis deemed necessary by the local council. Chapter chairperson shall be members of the local GMNLHM council. A council member may hold more than one position but only have one vote.
3. Executive committee shall be the pastor (ex-officio), GMNLHM officers, and two other council members.
4. Any district GMNLHM council member shall be an ex-officio member of the local GMNLHM council with the approval of the local GMNLHM council.
C. Nominations, Elections, Appointments, and Vacancies
1. Nominations: The council shall be nominated by a committee of not less than three and no more than seven members of the GMNLHM. The pastor shall appoint the nominating committee and serve as the committee chairman. All nominees shall be GMNLHM members of the local Church of the Nazarene.
2. Elections: The officers and a minimum of two additional council members shall be elected at the annual meeting and shall begin serving on the first day of the new church year after the election. If a local church has a unified treasurer who accounts for church funds, including GMNLHM monies, and who has been elected by the church board, that person shall be the GMNLHM treasurer as an ex-officio member of the local GMNLHM council with all rights and duties, unless otherwise specified by the local council.
a. President
(1) The nominating committee shall submit one or more names for the office of president, subject to the approval of the church board.
(2) Incumbent nominees may be reelected by a yes/no ballot when such election is recommended by the nominating committee and approved by the pastor.
(3) The president shall be elected by a majority vote by ballot of the members present and voting for a term of service of one or two church years. The GMNLHM council and the pastor shall recommend the length of the term of service.
b. Each of the remaining officers shall be elected by ballot for a term of service of one or two church years, the length of the term to be recommended by the GMNLHM council and the pastor, by
(1) A plurality vote; or
(2) A yes/no vote, when such a vote is recommended by the nominating committee and approved by the pastor.
c. Additional council members, whose length of service shall be one church year, may be:
(1) Elected to specific responsibilities, or
(2) Elected to the council as a whole with responsibilities to be determined later, or
(3) Appointed by the executive committee.
d. Delegates and alternates to the district convention shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting by a plurality vote. Alternates may be elected on a separate ballot, or at the recommendation of the local council on the same ballot as the delegates. (See Article VI, Section 2. A.3 for determining the number of delegates.)
3. Appointments: In consultation with the pastor, additional council members may be appointed by the executive committee to a term of service of one church year and shall begin serving on the first day of the new church year or at any time after the appointment is made.
4. Vacancies
a. President: The executive committee shall nominate one or more names with the approval of the church board. Election shall be by ballot with a majority vote of the GMNLHM members at any regular or called meeting.
b. Other executive committee members: The executive committee shall nominate one or more names. Election shall be by ballot by a plurality vote of the local GNLHM members at any regular or called meeting. If a local church has a unified treasurer, that vacancy shall be filled by the church board.
c. Other council members: The executive committee shall fill any vacancy by appointment.
D. Duties of Council Members
1. President
a. Directs the work of GMNLHM in the local church.
b. Presides at all regular and special meetings of GMNLHM.
c. Promotes, or delegates responsibility for, all emphases not assigned by election or council action.
d. Prepares an annual budget for approval by the local GMNLHM council and church board.
e. Submits annually written reports to the local GNLHM, the annual church meeting, the pastor of the local church, and the district GMNLHM secretary.
f. Serves as an ex-officio member of the church board, Sunday School Ministries board, district GMNLHM convention, and district assembly. In the case where the pastor’s spouse serves as the local president, if he or she so desires not to serve on the church board, the vice president is authorized to serve on the church board in the president’s place.
2. Vice President
a. Performs all duties of the president when the president is absent.
b. Serves in other areas as assigned by the local GMNLHM council.
3. Secretary
a. Conducts the correspondence of the GMNLHM, keeps statistical records, and records the minutes of all business meetings.
b. Keeps a complete list of all GNLHM members.
4. Treasurer
a. Keeps an accurate account of all funds collected and expended.
b. Ensures all offerings are sent to the designated treasurers in a timely manner.
c. Furnishes the council and, where applicable, the local church treasurer with all reports.
5. Executive Committee
a. Appoints additional council members or fills vacancies on the council.
b. Transacts business between council meetings.
c. Nominates one or more names for president if a vacancy occurs between annual meetings.
d. Hires staff or resident assistance where and when needed.
6. Other Council Members
a. Promotes the emphases and/or responsibility to which they are assigned (see GMNLHM Handbook).
Section 2: District Council
A. Purpose: The district council shall promote the purpose of Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries within the district or conference.
B. Composition
1. The council shall have four officers: a president, a vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer.
2. Council members shall be responsible for mission education, prayer and fasting, ministries call, Ministries Health Care, Work & Witness, Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries, publicity, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, children’s ministries, youth ministries, adult ministries deputation, GMNLHM zone or area coordinators, or any other emphasis deemed necessary by the district council. A council member may hold more than one position but have only one vote.
3. Executive Committee shall be the district superintendent, GMNLHM officers, and two other council members.
C. Nominations, Elections, Appointments, and Vacancies
1. Nominations: The council shall be nominated by a committee of not less than five (5) members of the GMNLHM. The district executive committee shall appoint the nominating committee. The district superintendent shall serve as the committee chairman for the nomination of the district president. Upon approval of the district superintendent, the district GMNLHM president may serve as chairman of the nominating committee for other nominations. All nominees shall be GMNLHM members of a local Church of the Nazarene on the district where they will serve.
2. Elections: The president and at least four additional council members, one of which will be designated as vice president, shall be elected by ballot at the annual district convention. (These four council positions do not include the secretary and treasurer. See Article V, Section 2, C.2.c.) The term of service shall be one or two convention years. A convention year is from the adjournment of the district convention to the adjournment of the next district convention.
a. President
(1) The nominating committee shall submit at least two or more names for the office of president except when nominating an incumbent president for another term.
(2) Incumbent nominees may be reelected by a yes/no ballot when such election is recommended by the district council and approved by the district superintendent and the General Superintendent.
(3) The president shall be elected by a two-thirds favorable vote of the members present and voting for a term of service of one or two convention years or until the successor has been elected. The district GMNLHM council and the district superintendent or General Superintendent shall recommend the length of the term of service.
b. Vice president shall be elected by ballot in one of the following ways:
(1) To the specific responsibility with two names submitted for the office; or
(2) To the council as a whole with specific council positions to be determined by the council; or
(3) A yes/no vote upon the recommendation of the nominating committee and approval of the district superintendent or General Superintendent.
c. Secretary and treasurer shall be elected by ballot by
(1) The district convention or annual conference. With the recommendation of the nominating committee and approval of the district superintendent or General Superintendent, election may be by a yes/no ballot for one or two convention years; or
(2) The newly elected district council upon the recommendation of the nominating committee and approval of the district superintendent or General Superintendent. With the recommendation of the nominating committee and approval of the district superintendent or General Superintendent, election may be by a yes/no ballot for one or two convention years.
(3) If a district has a unified treasurer who accounts for district funds, including GMNLHM monies, that person shall be the GMNLHM treasurer as an ex-officio member of the district GMNLHM council with all rights and duties, unless otherwise specified by the district council.
d. Three council members, in addition to the officers, shall be elected by ballot for one or two convention years with responsibilities to be determined by the council. The nominating committee and the district superintendent or General Superintendent shall recommend the length of the term of service.
e. Additional council members, including GMNLHM zone or area coordinators, may be
(1) Elected to specific responsibilities; or
(2) Elected to the council as a whole with responsibilities to be determined later by the council; or
(3) Appointed by the executive committee or district council as determined by the executive committee. The term of service shall be one or two convention years. The nominating committee, district superintendent, and General Superintendent shall recommend the length of the term of service.
f. Youth representatives
(1) The district convention may elect by ballot one and not more than two youth members to the district council; or
(2) The newly elected district council may elect one and not more than two youth members to the district council.
(3) Nominations may be requested from the district Nazarene Youth International executive committee.
(4) Term of service shall be for one convention year.
g. The two executive committee members other than the officers shall be elected by ballot by the district council for a term of service of one convention year or until their successors are elected.
h. Delegates and alternates to the General Convention shall be elected by ballot at a district convention. Alternates may be elected on a separate ballot, or at the recommendation of the district council on the same ballot as the delegates. (See Article VI, Section 3, A.3.b. for determining the number of delegates and time of election.)
3. Appointments: In consultation with the district superintendent or General Superintendent, additional council members may be appointed by the executive committee or district council as determined by the executive committee.
4. Vacancies
a. President: The executive committee shall nominate two names. Election shall be by ballot with a majority vote of the district council present and voting. The person elected shall serve until the adjournment of the next district convention.
b. Other council members: The executive committee or district council shall fill any vacancy by appointment. The newly appointed council members shall serve until the adjournment of the next district convention or annual conference.
c. Unified treasurer: If a district has a unified treasurer, that vacancy shall be filled by district advisory board.
D. Duties of Council Members
1. President
a. Directs the work of GMNLHM on the district.
b. Presides at all meetings of the district council, executive committee, and the district convention or annual conference.
c. Promotes, or delegates responsibility for, all emphases not assigned by election or council action.
d. Prepares an annual budget for approval by the district finance committee.
e. Submits annually a written report to the district GMNLHM convention and to the General GMNLHM Council regional representative.
f. Serves as an ex-officio member of the district advisory council, district Sunday School Ministries board, district GMNLHM convention, and district assembly.
2. Vice President
a. Performs all duties of the president when the president is absent.
b. Serves in other areas as assigned by the district GMNLHM council.
3. Secretary
a. Conducts the correspondence of the GMNLHM and records the minutes of all business meetings.
b. Sends report forms annually to local GMNLHM presidents.
c. Compiles statistical records and submits an annual report to the district president, general GMNLHM director, General Council representative, and where applicable the GNLHM program coordinator for World Mission regions.
4. Treasurer
a. Keeps an accurate account of all funds collected and expended.
b. Remits funds to designated treasurers in a timely manner.
c. Furnishes regular itemized reports to the district council and prepares an annual report for the district convention.
d. Arranges with appropriate district personnel the annual audit of the district GMNLHM treasurer’s books.
5. Executive Committee
a. Appoints additional district council members or fills vacancies on the council.
b. Transacts business between council meetings.
c. Nominates two names for president if a vacancy occurs between annual conventions.
6. Other Council Members
a. Promote the emphases and/or responsibility to which they are assigned (see GMNLHM Handbook).
Section 3: General Council
A. Purpose: The General GMNLHM Council shall promote the purpose of Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries.
B. Composition
1. General director, general president, and one representative from each region in the United Methodist Church or the Church of the Nazarene.
2. Executive Committee shall be the general director, the general president, the vice president, and two other council members.
3. The director of the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Department shall be a member of the General Council and the Executive Committee.
4. The Resident Assistants in community living homes.
C. Nominations, Elections, and Vacancies
1. Nomination and Election of General Director
a. The general director shall be nominated by the director of the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Mission Department in consultation with the general superintendent or bishop in jurisdiction for the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Department.
b. The General Council shall approve the nominated general director by a majority vote by ballot.
c. The Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Committee of the General Board shall approve the nomination by a majority vote by ballot and recommend the nominee to the Board of General Superintendents.
d. The Board of General Superintendents shall elect the general director.
2. Nomination and Election of General President
a. A nominating committee composed of the general director, three regional representatives from the General Council, and five non-General Council members shall be appointed by the executive committee. No two members of the nominating committee may be from the same region.
b. The general director shall serve as chairman of the nominating committee.
c. The committee shall submit the names of two and not more than three persons for general president. The nominees shall be approved by the Board of General Superintendents.
d. From these nominees the General Convention shall elect a general president by a two-thirds vote by ballot.
e. The general president shall serve from the adjournment of the General Convention until the adjournment of the next General Convention or until his or her successor has been elected and qualified.
f. The general president shall be limited to two full terms of service. A term of service shall be one quadrennial. If a person is elected to fill a vacancy in the office of general president, that person is also eligible to serve two full terms.
3. Nomination and Election of General Council Members
a. Each district GMNLHM council may submit one or two names to the General GMNLHM Office from its region as the regional representative for a nominating ballot.
(1) These persons shall be members and residents of the region they will represent. (In the case where a council member moves from that region within 6 months prior to the next General Convention, that council member will complete the term.)
(2) This provision does not apply to anyone whose home residence is just across a regional boundary from the place of church membership.
b. From these names on the nominating ballot, each region in caucus at the general GMNLHM convention shall choose by ballot two nominees. The two with the highest number of votes shall be declared the nominees; however, the two nominees shall not be from the same district. If this happens, the person with the second highest number of votes is replaced by the person with the next highest number of votes from a different district.
c. The region in caucus shall then elect one person by a majority vote to represent the region on the General Council.
d. Council members shall serve from the adjournment of the General Convention until the adjournment of the next General Convention or until their successors have been elected and qualified.
e. The term of service shall be limited to two full terms. A term of service shall be one quadrennial. If a person is elected to fill a vacancy of a General Council member, that person is also eligible to serve two full terms.
4. Nomination and Election of Executive Committee
a. The General Council shall in its first meeting nominate and elect a vice president and two additional members for the executive committee.
b. Election shall be by ballot by a majority vote of those present and voting.
5. Nomination and Election of GMNLHM Representative to General Board
a. The General Council shall nominate two members of the council to represent GMNLHM on the General Board of the Church of the Nazarene.
b. The General Assembly shall elect the GMNLHM representative by ballot.
6. Vacancies
a. If a vacancy occurs in the office of general president between General Conventions, a new general president shall be elected from nominees selected by the executive committee in consultation with the general superintendent in jurisdiction by a two-thirds vote of the General Council. The person will perform the duties of the general president until adjournment of the next General Convention. The question of calling for an election to fill the vacancy shall be decided by the General Council in consultation with the general superintendent in jurisdiction.
b. If a vacancy occurs on the council between General Conventions, each district executive committee on the region concerned shall be requested to submit one nominee from the region to the general executive committee. From these names, the general executive committee shall present two names as nominees. The vacancy shall then be filled by a majority vote by the district GMNLHM presidents on the region. The question of calling for an election to fill the vacancy shall be decided by the General Council executive committee in consultation with the general superintendent in jurisdiction.
c. If a vacancy occurs in the office of general director, the same process will be followed for the nomination and election of the general director (see Article V. Section 3. C. 1).
d. If a vacancy occurs in the executive committee between General Conventions, the General Council shall nominate two people. The vacancy shall be filled by a majority vote by ballot of the General GMNLHM Council.
e. If a vacancy occurs in the GNLHM representative to the General Board, the general executive committee shall submit two nominees after consultation with the general superintendent in jurisdiction and the approval of the Board of General Superintendents. The General GMNLHM Council shall elect the General Board representative by a majority vote.
D. Duties
1. General Council Members
a. Cooperate with the general GMNLHM director in developing GMNLHM policy and program.
b. Promote the total program of the GNLHM in the geographic region they represent.
c. Submit a report of the GNLHM work in the region to each General Council meeting.
d. Nominate two members of the council for election by the General Assembly and Conference as the GMNLHM representative on the General Board.
e. Act on any legislation passed by the General Assembly relevant to regional representation.
f. Elect a vice president and two other members from the council to the executive committee.
2. General Director
a. Serves as the executive officer of GMNLHM.
b. Advances the mission interests of GMNLHM throughout the districts around the world in cooperation with the General Council.
c. Interprets the GMNLHM Handbook and Constitution.
d. Directs the personnel and business of the general office.
e. Serves as editor-in-chief of all GMNLHM publications.
f. Directs the compilation and maintenance of records and reports.
g. Makes an annual financial and statistical report to the General Council, the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Committee, and the General Board.
h. Prepares a condensed report of business transacted in each meeting of the council for approval by the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Committee of the General Board.
i. Directs the organization and program of the General Convention in collaboration with the General Council.
j. Prepares the General Convention report, both financial and statistical, with a condensed version through the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Department for the General Assembly.
k. Serves as an ex-officio member of the General Assembly.
3. General President
a. Presides at the meetings of the General Council, executive committee, and the General Convention.
b. Promotes the purpose and programs of GMNLHM.
4. Vice President
a. Performs the duties of the president when the president is absent.
5. Executive Committee
a. Transacts business between council meetings.
b. Nominates two names for general president if a vacancy occurs between General Conventions.
c. Nominates two names for a vacancy on the executive committee.
d. Appoints the nominating committee for general president.
Article VI. Meetings Section 1. Local Meetings
A. Monthly There shall be one or more meetings for mission information, inspiration, and prayer held each calendar month.
1. Meetings may take the form of mission services, mission speakers, mission lessons, mission activities and events, mission moments, GMNLHM emphases, etc.
2. The GMNLHM president and the council shall work in cooperation with the pastor in planning mission education and involvement for the local church.
B. Annual
1. The annual meeting shall be held no later than 30 days prior to the district convention to elect the executive committee/council for the next church year and the delegates to the district convention.
2. Voting and election to the local council shall be limited to GMNLHM members who are 15 years of age or older.
C. Council Meetings The local council shall meet at least quarterly to plan, report, evaluate, inform, inspire, and carry out the work of the local organization. A majority of council members shall constitute a quorum.
Section 2. District Meetings
A. Convention and Conference
1. There shall be an annual district convention or conference to report, pray, inform, inspire, present plans, and conduct business pertaining to the organization.
2. The time and place of the convention or conference shall be decided by the district council in consultation with the district superintendent and shall be held within 30 days prior to the district assembly.
3. Membership
a. Only members of the respective district shall be eligible to serve as ex-officio or elected delegates.
b. Ex-officio members of the convention shall be district GMNLHM council; district superintendent; all assigned ministers and full-time salaried associate ministers of local churches; lay members of the district advisory board; the local GMNLHM presidents of the assembly year just ending, and newly elected GMNLHM presidents or newly elected vice presidents if the newly elected president cannot attend; General GMNLHM Council member; retired assigned ministers; retired missionaries, missionaries on home assignment, and missionary appointees; and any former district presidents who reside on the district that they served.
c. Elected delegates from each local church shall be GMNLHM members (15 years of age or older). The number of elected delegates shall be based on the following formula: two delegates (excluding associate members) from each local GMNLHM of 25 members or fewer, and one additional delegate for each additional 25 members or major portion thereof.
4. The delegates present shall constitute a quorum.
B. Council The district council shall meet at least biannually to transact business in the interim between the annual district conventions. A majority of council members shall constitute a quorum.
Section 3. General Meetings
A. Convention or Conference
1. There shall be a General Convention of Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries immediately preceding the General Assembly to report, pray, inform, inspire, present plans, and conduct business pertaining to the organization. A majority of registered delegates shall constitute a quorum.
2. The time and place of the convention or conference shall be decided by the General Council in consultation with the general superintendent in jurisdiction.
3. Membership
a. Ex-officio members of the General Convention shall be members of the General Council; GMNLHM program coordinators of World Mission regions; district GMNLHM presidents, or in the event a district president cannot attend, the district vice president may be allowed to represent that district; and the GMNLHM president of each Phase 1 district, or if the president cannot attend, the president, with the approval of the district superintendent or General Superintendent may designate an alternate to be seated.
b. Elected delegates to the General Convention shall be based on the following formula: two delegates from each Phase 3 and Phase 2 district of 1,000 or fewer GMNLHM members, excluding associates, and one additional delegate for each additional 700 members or major portion thereof.
c. One global missionary delegate for every World Mission region of 50 or fewer missionaries, or two global missionary delegates for each region with 51 or more missionaries shall be elected by the Regional Advisory Council in each region.
d. Delegates are to be elected by ballot by the district convention or annual conference within 16 months of the General Convention or within 24 months in areas where travel visas or other unusual preparations are necessary.
e. Any elected delegate shall be residing at the time of the General Convention on the district where he or she held membership at the time of election. If any elected delegate moves off the district, the privilege of representing the former district is forfeited. This provision does not apply to anyone whose home residence is just across a district boundary from the place of church membership.
B. Council Meetings The General Council shall meet a minimum of three times during the quadrennial to transact business pertaining to the organization. A majority of council members shall constitute a quorum.
Article VII. Funds Section 1. Raised by Local Churches
A. Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Fund
1. All funds raised for the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Fund shall be sent to the general treasurer.
2. Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Fund (GMNLHMF) shall be raised in the following manner:
a. Regular GMNLHMF offerings
b. Disability Sundays offerings
c. The GMNLHMF portion of Church Budget giving
d. Prayer and Fasting offerings
e. Donations from local, state, or federal government as well as personal and corporate donatiins.
B. Approved Ministries Specials
1. Opportunity shall be given to contribute to Approved Ministries Specials (such as Disability Sundays Offerings, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Deputation, Ministry Health Care, Work & Witness, GMNLHM International Student Scholarship Fund, Approved Grants, etc.) over and above GMNLHMF giving.
2. Additional Approved Ministries Specials may be approved and authorized by appropriate personnel at the Global Ministry Center of the Church of the Nazarene.
3. The General GMNLHM Council shall authorize all Approved Ministries Specials that are promoted and raised through GNLHM from the general level.
C. Funds Exclusive
1. An approved part of the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Fund and Approved Ministries Specials shall be used for local or district expense or charitable purposes.
D. Local Expense
1. A local expense fund shall be provided for GNLHM as determined by the local GMNLHM council and approved by the church board.
2. A portion of the local expense shall be designated for the expenses of the district convention or annual conference delegates as well as the salary and benefits for the resident
assistants.
Section 2. Raised by the Districts
A. District Expense
1. A district expense fund shall be provided for GNLHM as determined by the district GMNLHM council and approved by the district finance committee.
2. A portion of the district expense fund shall be designated to pay for district delegate expenses to the General Convention.
3. Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Fund and Approved Ministries Specials shall not be used for district expense.
Section 3. Remuneration
A. The ministry of GMNLHM shall be a love service to the church. Salaries shall be paid at any level-local, district, and general-including the general director, who is employed by the General Board.
B. Adequate remuneration shall be provided for the expenses of council members at all levels-local, district, and general.
Article VIII. Policies and Procedures
The General GMNLHM Council shall establish additional policies, procedures, and job descriptions for GMNLHM to be contained in the GNLHM Handbook along with the GMNLHM Constitution.
Article IX. Parliamentary Authority
The rules contained in the current edition of open forum, when not in conflict with applicable law, the Articles of Incorporation of the Church of the Nazarene, the GMNLHM Constitution, and any other rules of order that GMNLHM may adopt, shall govern the organization.
Article X. Amendments
The GMNLHM Constitution may be amended by two-thirds favorable vote of members present and voting at a General Convention or Conference of Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries and by the approval of the Global Methodist-Nazarene Lamb's Hope Ministries Committee of the General Board.
***
Traditional Christian Treatment of the Sick
whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly, that it is God's visitation.
Book of Common Prayer, Order for the Visitation of the Sick
Traditional Christian doctrine held that illness was caused by sin. This belief was exactly in line with the gospels1 and was specifically confirmed by the Lateran Council in 1215. So it was that for centuries the sick and dying could safely be shunned and ignored. They must have deserved their condition, and attempts to help them were attempts to defy God's will. Monstrous human births were caused by the Devil having corrupted infants' souls, even before birth.
The belief was universal in Christianity, and carried over from Catholicism into Protestant sects at the Reformation. Here are a few examples from Martin Luther:
A large number of deaf, crippled and blind people are afflicted solely through the malice of the demon. And one must in no wise doubt that plagues, fevers and every sort of evil come from him.
and it was not only physical problems, mental problems were also attributable to Satan.
As for the demented, I hold it certain that all beings deprived of reason are thus afflicted only by the Devil.
and anyone who doubted demonic causes for illness were ridiculed (and where possible tried as heretics)
Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads....
Since disease-causing demons were God's punishment for sin, it was clearly a pious duty to accept that punishment. To minimise it or seek to avoid it would be further sin. This attitude led to a form of fatalism still widespread in the East and once common in Western Christendom too. If God wants a person to suffer or die, it is plainly blasphemous for that person to try to avoid their fate. Since the victims of plague were destined to die by God's decree, the disease could not really be contagious in any conventional sense, and there was no point in taking precautions against catching it. Many thousands of devout Christians thus suffered avoidable death and suffering. For example, during the Black Death in Britain in 1665, pious Christians declined to take precautions for the protection of their families, claiming that they did not wish to pervert God's will. As Daniel Defoe noted, places where this fatalistic attitude was common suffered significantly higher mortality rates than elsewhere. Well into the twentieth century, devout Christians relied on Psalm 91, which they said clearly confirmed that God would protect them from pestilence and other evils. The devout were held to be immune from epidemics, whatever the evidence might be. To be inoculated against disease was to doubt God's word, and therefore plainly sinful. So it was that many of the devout, and their trusting children, died unnecessarily in epidemics following the advice, or the orders, of their religious leaders.
Lepers were treated as God required in the Old Testament:
He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. (Leviticus 13:44-45)
God had condemned lepers to a living death, so Christians behaved accordingly. A ceremony was performed for the living dead parallel to that for the fully dead. When someone was thought to have contracted the disease, a neighbour would denounce the unfortunate person to the Church. An investigation would then be undertaken on behalf of the Church, often without medical assistance. If leprosy was established the parish priest would perform the "Office for the Seclusion of a Leper". He would go to the afflicted person's house, sprinkle the person with holy water, and offer him or her the chance to make confession for the last time. The afflicted person was then taken to the local Church where he or she was made to adopt a pose "in the manner of a dead man" before the altar, beneath trestles covered by black cloth. The idea was that the leper should resemble a body in a coffin. During the service, lepers were informed that their disease was God's punishment for sin, and sometimes, paradoxically, that this was a special divine favour. According to the ritual used at Vienna, the priest would say:
"My friend, it pleaseth Our Lord that thou shouldst be infected with this malady, and thou hast great grace at the hands of Our Lord that he desireth to punish thee for thy iniquities in this world"2.
After a ceremony the leper was dragged backwards or otherwise escorted out of the church. Earth was cast at his or her feet, as into a new grave, while the priest said
"Be thou dead to the world, but alive again unto God". The person was then admonished never to enter a church or other public place again, and was banished from the community. Lepers were dead not only spiritually and socially but also legally. They could not inherit property. At the Council of Westminster in 1200 they were forbidden to make wills or appear in court. The Church taught that the exterior physical body reflected the interior soul, so anyone with such a dreadful disease must have been excessively sinful. Leprosy was believed either to be a venereal disease or to be caused by lustful thoughts. Either way, leprosy was the visible sign of a soul corroded by the vitriol of sexual sin
Since lepers were by definition given to sin, and excluded from the community of good Christians, they provided convenient scapegoats. By marginalising them, Christendom made them into targets for unwholesome fantasies. Like all other minority groups they were accused of unlikely crimes. In 1321, for example, they were accused of poisoning wells in France. Lepers in Périgueux were rounded up and tortured until they confessed their guilt, and were then burned at the stake. The confessions prompted a terror similar to that more usually generated by Jews and witches. A story grew that a huge network of lepers, funded by the Muslims and aided by the Jews, had planned to poison all water supplies in the land. Forged letters turned up confirming the foul plot. King Philip V ordered the arrest of all lepers in France. Those who failed to confess were to be tortured. Those who did confess were to be burned alive, their goods being forfeit to the King. No records were kept of how many lepers died as a result3.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Cripples (aka The Beggars), 1568 Universal Social Services are modern secular concepts, initially unknown to (and later opposed by) traditional Christian Churches
No Christian thought to try to find a cure for leprosy. It would be presumptuous to do that. For the holiest Christians like the Blessed Angela of Foligno, the nearest one could get to being useful was to drink from the suppurating sores of a leper.
Equating sin with illness is now widely considered absurd, though it is has been confirmed even by liberal denominations even in recent times. A report of the Anglican Church from the Lambeth Conference in 1958 confirmed the principle while shifting ground to avoid the traditional implications, so that the blame did not need to be pinned on any individual: "It is cruel and false to brand every sufferer as a sinner: much suffering and sickness is due to the sin either of other persons or of society in general". Since then the whole subject has become an embarrassment, except to a few sects that continue to hold to the traditional teaching. Mainstream clergymen go to extreme lengths to pretend that the biblical passages that confirm the link between sin and illness do not exist, or else mean something quite different. It is left to fringe Christians to uphold the traditional line and use exorcism to cast out sin and so cure diseases.
Demons used to be common and visible
Saint Francis of Assisi, An Exorcist of Demons
Saint Francis Borgia performing an exorcism, detail of a painting by Francisco Goya
Not so long ago Christians accepted the views of St Augustine that deaf mutes were debarred from the faith4. Like Augustine, they cited St Paul's assertion that "faith cometh by hearing" (Romans 10:17). The deaf were thus incapable of becoming Christians. For centuries they were marginalised, rejected and persecuted by all right-thinking Christians. The Church would not allow them to marry, nor to inherit. The deaf were not the only ones persecuted in this way — so were those with other disabilities, since disabilities were also evidence of God's unfavourable judgement. As late as the 1970s Roman Catholic priests were protesting publicly about Communion being given to disabled children.
Another idea propounded by the Church, and explained in Malleus Maleficarum5, was that God allowed demons to steal children and substitute subhuman infants, called changelings, in their place. This was likely to happen to children before they had been baptised, or before their mother had been churched. Such stories were used to encourage baptism and churching, and also to explain the existence of weak and sickly children. Sometimes children had withered limbs, or were deaf, blind, mentally impaired or crippled. Roman Catholics and Protestants alike imagined that these handicapped children — these changelings — were not human beings at all. Martin Luther, for example, advised that they be drowned. They were he said only lumps of flesh lacking a soul6. He could vauch for their existence from his personal experience: "I myself saw and touched at Dessay, a child of this sort, which had no human parents, but had proceeded from the Devil. He was twelve years old, and, in outward form, exactly resembled ordinary children". The Devil often exchanged sickly imps in place of healthy children. As Luther pointed out "The Devil, too, sometimes steals human children; it is not infrequent for him to carry away infants within the first six weeks after birth, and to substitute in their place imps...". Of course, murdering Satan's imps did not constitute murder. Luther's view was not an isolated exception. Walter Bachmann, who made a study of Christian attitudes to changelings, summed up the position as follows:
It is doubtful if the handicapped have ever, in any other cultural domain in human history, been more wronged and despised or treated with greater intolerance and inhumanity, than in Christendom7.
Changelings were sometimes regarded as half-breeds, the offspring of a human woman and an elf or other supernatural being. In other cases, unwanted children were regarded as Cambions. According to theologians, demons would adopt female form to seduce sleeping men and obtain their semen, then adopt male form to seduce sleeping women, and impregnate them with their ill-gotten semen. The offspring of such a union was a Cambion. The demon in female form was a succubus, and in male form was an incubus. St. Augustine in De Civitate Dei affirmed that there were too many attacks by incubi to deny them. Saint Thomas Aquinas also affirmed their existence, as did the Inquisitors' handbook Malleus Maleficarum.8.
Nightmare (1800) by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (1743 - 1809) .
Oil on canvas, 35.3 x 41.7 cm. Vestsjaellands Art Museum, Denmark.
An incubus sits on a the chest of a sleeping woman, her husband unaware, next to her.
Another incubus, still familiar in the nineteenth century.
Detail, Jean Pierre Simon, Nightmare, 1810, Welcome Library
Since Christian shrines healed worthy Christians of their sins and illnesses, it followed that if no healing was forthcoming, then the sufferer cannot be a worthy Christian. Countless incurable children were therefore left to perish if no saint saw fit to heal them - since by definition such children cannot have been of value to God. Others survived by being adopted into less religiously rigorous families. In the thirteenth century, Margaret of Citta-Di-Castello, also known Margaret of Metola, was abandoned by her rich Christian parents when a cure for her blindness was not granted at a shrine. She was raised by a poor family, even though she was blind, dwarfed, hunchbacked and lame, and survived to become a notable visionary in the Catholic Church, though not a saint, presumably because of her physical deformities (which traditionally are not permitted in holy places).
The bible is clear that deformities render a person unfit to be a Jewish priest, and the Church interpreted the relevant passages as referring also to Christian priests:
The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’” (Leviticus 21:16-23)
So it was that any bodily deformities debar a man from becoming a priest. Even today physically handicapped priests are rare - and explicable by injuries sustained after ordination. God had no use for the physically impaired. Historically, physical handicaps were, along with servile birth and illegitimacy, bars to ordination. Canon 1029 of the Roman code of canon law still requires those to be ordained to have "appropriate physical qualities".
Hubert Ahaus, "Holy Orders." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
The first requisite for lawful ordination is a Divine vocation; by which is understood the action of God, whereby He selects some to be His special ministers, endowing them with the spiritual, mental, moral, and physical qualities required for the fitting discharge of their order and inspiring them with a sincere desire to enter the ecclesiastical state for God's honor and their own sanctification. The reality of this Divine call is manifested in general by sanctity of life, right faith, knowledge corresponding to the proper exercise of the order to which one is raised, absence of physical defects, the age required by the canons ...
Some diseases, handicaps and injuries were sufficient to prevent people being allowed in Christian congregations at all. For example, genital injuries debarred men from attending church: "No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 23:1). Other examples we have already seen include Deafness being a bar to being a Christian, and lepers who were not permitted to enter churches after a priest has read the service for the dead for them (on the discovery of their disease, not their death). In all cases the justification for exclusion was biblical.
"Philip Verheyen dissecting his amputated limb", detail, Anonymous artist, c. 1715-1730.
Philip Verheyen had been a theology student destined for the priesthood, until his lower leg had to be amputated in 1675, debarring him from his vocation. (He kept his severed leg and subsequently became a famous anatomist and surgeon)
Mental infirmity, like physical infirmity, was a punishment from God. An interesting question for theologians was the degree of mental infirmity required to render a person subhuman. This was important because sub-humans were mere animals with no human souls. Without a soul they were not entitled to the privileges of humanity. They could not benefit from baptism nor from legal privileges. Like the excommunicated and outlaws, they were non-persons. They could not bear witness in court, make wills or bring legal actions. They were outside of Christian society and therefore outside the law, so it could not be an offence to defraud them, torture them or even kill them. A vestige of this problem survives in the word cretin, derived from the word Chrétien meaning Christian. A cretin, though suffering from iodine deficiency, might still have enough mental capacity to warrant being baptised, and thus being regarded as human. Anyone with less mental capacity than a cretin was non-human and so, like the deaf, unworthy of baptism. For theologians they were mere "lumps of flesh" - self sustaining giant tumours without souls, or rights, or any place in Christian society.
Christian ideas and priorities are made clear in its surviving buildings. Almost every ancient village in Europe has a church, but almost none had a hospital in the modern sense of the word before the Enlightenment. Before then hospitals were religious institutions built to offer hospitality to travelers. Very few provided medical care to the poor — Saint Bartholemew's Hospital in London is notable precisely because of its uniqueness. Surgery was prohibitted in religious hospitals because churchmen were not permitted to shed blood. Care was therefore generally of the type offered more recently by "Mother Theresa" - no medical intervention, no anasthetics, just basic care and a focus on religious conversion before death. The nearest the Church came to hospital in the modern sense was a Lazar House or leprosaria, a place to enforce the segregation of lepers; or mad house, such as Bethlehem Hospital ("Bedlam"), to enforce the segregation of the insane.
In the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, modern hospitals began to appear, serving medical needs and staffed by qualified physicians and surgeons. The goal of these hospitals was to use modern methods to cure patients rather than save their souls. They were founded by private individuals and secular authorities. For the first time since classical times, a clear distinction emerged between medicine and poor relief. Within the hospitals, separate specialist departments were set up for different types of patient. In England a voluntary hospital movement began in the early 18th century, with hospitals being founded in London. Westminster Hospital, founded in 1719, was promoted by a private bank (Hoare & Co). Guy's Hospital, founded in 1724, was funded from the bequest of Thomas Guy, a wealthy merchant. Other medical hospitals were founded in British cities through the eighteenth century, generally paid for by private subscriptions, often by Quakers, not by other religious institutions. Soon public dispensaries would be established too, providing medicine to the poor, free of charge. The first true hospital in North America was the Pennsylvania hospital, founded by Benjamin Franklin and fellow Quaker Thomas Bond in Philadelphia in 1751. Patients were treated free of charge and the hospital was funded through private donations.
Vestiges of traditional Christian attitudes remain - many Churches still discriminate against the handicapped in a variety of ways - employment, marriage, rights within the Church, etc although secular laws are slowly eliminating the ways they are allowed to discriminate. For example it took an anti-discrimination suit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Oral Roberts University in the twenty-first century before disabled people were allowed on the campuses of all the God-inspired evangelical American universities9. It is notable that the worst excesses were particularly Christian. Before the Churches' rise to power, non-Christians had formed rational explanations for illness and infirmity. Socrates (in Plato's Cratylus) recognised that the deaf were just as intelligent as everyone else. When the Church was most powerful, the only people effectively exempt from its rules — rich and influential nobles — were able to teach their deaf children to read and write. In this way they circumvented Church restrictions, and such children were permitted to marry and inherit. If churchmen had thought about this, they could easily have reached the same conclusion as Socrates.
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